GLOSSARY

Access Control Glossary

Key access-control terms for buyers and integrators — covering basics, recognition technology, deployment architecture, compliance and trends, to help you understand smart passage.

Basics

Access Control System: A system that verifies identity and manages entry/exit permissions, typically made of terminals, controllers, locks and a software platform.
Access Terminal: A front-end device integrating recognition, matching and control; common forms are face terminals, QR readers and multi-function access terminals.
Turnstile: A physical barrier for high-concurrency lanes, linked with recognition terminals for face/QR passage; typical at metro, campuses and venues.
Smart Lock: An electronic lock with remote control, permission push and access-log reporting, for apartments, rentals and offices.

Recognition

Face Recognition: Uses the face as credential; relies on on-device 1:N matching and liveness detection, suited to frictionless passage and high-security verification.
QR Code Recognition: Verifies identity by scanning dynamic QR; low cost and easy to roll out, often for visitor temporary authorization and legacy card systems.
IC Card / NFC: Uses contactless cards or phone NFC as credential, compatible with existing card systems, common for low-cost retrofit.
Liveness Detection: Decides whether the subject is a real living person rather than a photo, video or mask — the anti-spoofing base of face access, often via dual-infrared or 3D structured light.
1:N Matching: Searches the live face against the authorized gallery one-to-many, returning the best identity — the core algorithm step for frictionless passage.
Multimodal Recognition: One terminal supports face, QR, IC card and NFC, auto-switching by scene and person to cover the whole population.

Deployment

Private Deployment: Deploys the access platform and data in the customer’s own environment; biometrics stay on-site, meeting government and city-scale data-security mandates.
Edge Computing: Recognition and matching run on-device, with no cloud round trip, ensuring low latency and stable passage under high concurrency.
Wiegand / RS485 Interface: Standard wired interfaces in access control for stable signal transfer between terminal, controller and lock — the basis of system interop.
Open API: Standard exposed interfaces that let access connect HR, property, one-card and visitor systems, with bulk permission push and real-time logs.

Compliance

Data Localization: Sensitive data like biometrics is stored locally or in the customer’s environment, not crossed borders or put in public cloud — a baseline compliance requirement.
Biometric Data Compliance: Projects involving biometrics need authorized retention, minimal collection and tiered permission audit to meet personal-information regulations.
Certification: Common compliance and quality certifications for access devices: FCC, CE, RoHS, IP67, plus utility/model patents and software copyright.

Trends

Frictionless Passage: Passage without actively presenting a credential, relying on millisecond on-device matching and stable throughput — the experience standard at high concurrency.
City-Scale Transit: Large-scale access deployment in metro, campuses and city projects, requiring on-device compute, data compliance and O&M closure all at once.